RENATA de Mouro Moitinho sambas so fast her feet blur, but her partner moves with the bumbling tentativeness of a toddler taking his first steps.

That’s because Moitinho’s dance partner for the evening is an Italian, visiting Brazil for the World Cup, and she is giving him his very first lesson in the nation’s frenetically paced national dance.

A Brazilian woman and an Argentinian fan dance at Copacabana Beach.Source:AP

The two met at the Fan Fest in Rio de Janeiro, where 22-year-old Moitinho and a group of friends have been partying through the month-long tournament in order to, as she puts it, “hunt foreigners” like the Italian, who declined to give his name.

Moitinho’s not alone.

The past three weeks’ flood of foreign soccer fans — the vast majority of them men — has been a boon for the single women of Brazil, where a demographic imbalance means they outnumber men by more than 4 million nationally.

The imbalance, the result of higher mortality rates among young men, is particularly acute in Rio de Janeiro, where there are just over nine men for every 10 women, according to the 2010 census. That’s about the same as New York City, another metropolis known for its lack of eligible single men.

Two fans kiss, as other fans around them actually pay attention to the football.Source:Getty Images

“There are so many men everywhere these days, it’s amazing,” Moitinho said, gesturing out over the sea of masculine faces at the Fan Fest. “The World Cup is God’s gift to women.”

Brazil’s World Cup bonanza hasn’t come without a downside, with scattered reports of Brazilian women being sexually harassed by out-of-control fans. But in most cases, the women say, foreign fans have behaved well, and have displayed a more enlightened, less macho attitude than that of Brazilian guys.

Two supporters kiss at the World Cup Fan Fest in Rio.Source:Getty Images

Fans have a dip after one of the games.Source:AFP

Moitinho, who along with three friends braved the bus for more than two hours to get to the Fan Fest from her home in a distant Rio suburb, said foreigners just have a “je ne sais quoi” that their Brazilian counterparts lack.

“They’re handsome, sweet, humble and generous,” Moitinho said as her friends grabbed hold of the Italian’s hips to lead him in samba’s hallmark sway. “They respect women and don’t come on strong like Brazilian men, who just grab on to you and try to kiss you right away. They’re much more gentlemanly.”

A Brazilian woman dances at Copacabana Beach.Source:AFP

Two fans kiss during one of the USA’s matches.Source:Getty Images

Catia Santiago, a 35-year-old single mother, agreed.

“I’ve never had the money to travel, so I thought all men were like Brazilians — very fast, very aggressive,” Santiago said as she soaked up the rays on Copacabana beach. “Now I see that ‘gringos,’” as foreigners of all nationalities are known in Brazilian Portuguese, “aren’t like that at all,” she said, adding that the language barrier hadn’t proven a barrier at all. “I’m hooked.”

Not everyone is as enthusiastic.

Brazilian newspapers have run stories with local women complaining about foreigners’ wandering hands and sense of entitlement. A report in the newspaper Estado de Minas quoted several women saying they had been groped by England fans at a street party in Belo Horizonte following the June 24 match between England vs. Costa Rica.

Brazilian fans smile ahead of their nation’s quarter-final against Colombia.Source:AFP

A Brazilian woman dances with a Colombian man.Source:AP

Misconceptions about Brazilian women and misunderstandings over dating rituals in Brazil may have played a role in such incidents. The country is both the birthplace of a bevy of supermodels like Gisele Bündchen and also the home of more Roman Catholics than any other nation, has long struggled to reconcile its reputation as a place of beautiful, sexually liberated women in skimpy clothing with the conservative social norms that still hold sway throughout much of the country.

Two fans kiss after the quarter-final between Brazil and Colombia.Source:Getty Images

Fans pictured at the Fan Fest on Copacabana Beach.Source:Getty Images

Matthew Coelho, a 33-year-old from San Francisco who has spent several weeks in Brazil for the World Cup, said he was perplexed by gender relations in Brazil.

“On one hand, it’s really easy to meet people here and they’re really friendly and the girls here are excited to meet guys from the US,” he said. “But you sometimes have to think about people’s motivations.

“I went out with this girl in Brasilia and like halfway through the date I began to realise that she just wanted me to pay for her Friday night out. In San Francisco, I’m used to splitting the bill, so it was a little weird.”

A pair of fans hug during one of Argentina’s matches.Source:Getty Images

A Brazilian fan enjoys the World Cup’s atmosphere.Source:Getty Images

He added that misperceptions cut both ways.

“It depends on the kind of people, but you get the impression that some women here think that if you’re a foreigner that you’re rich, which is not my case at all. I’m just a backpacker,” Coelho said, gesturing at his shorts and flip-flops.